Beyond a shadow of a doubt

The government says it's concerned some deals are being conducted by corrupt foreign government officials or criminals

The de Blasio administration has a lot to deal with these days. It's trying to stop aimless young men in housing projects from shooting each other, find apartments for 60,000 homeless people and fix hundreds of underachieving schools. So the mayor's office has wisely decided not to invest time and resources tinkering with development rules alongside Central Park in order to shorten shadows.

In the context of homicides, homelessness and uneducated children, some narrow strips of late-afternoon shade on the edge of an 843-acre park are obviously not a major concern. But certain New Yorkers have a habit of making a big deal out of minor matters, and the handful of very tall, slender skyscrapers going up on the city's priciest blocks have some critics bent out of shape. Manhattan's Community Board 5 has formed a "sunshine task force" and the Municipal Art Society launched a comprehensive "accidental skyline" initiative to see that "projects proceed in a thoughtful and transparent matter."

In July, seven elected officials asked City Planning Commission Chairman Carl Weisbrod to take action.

But there's already a framework in place to guide development in the city. It's called zoning. And Mr. Weisbrod prudently informed the upset elected officials this month that the administration has no plans to adjust the zoning along the 57th Street corridor.The Manhattan skyline, he said, is not accidental at all. Midtown is a deliberately high-density area because of its terrific mass-transit capacity and its role as the city's premier business district. Yet its bulk is not limitless: The 1,000-foot-plus towers can be that tall because their creators acquired development rights from neighboring parcels. That ensures other buildings on those blocks will remain short and will probably never be demolished.The preservation crowd should be rising to the defense of supertall towers, not advocating for boxy behemoths.Other benefits of current zoning that Mr. Weisbrod noted are an interesting pedestrian experience, with the mixed-height streetscape allowing for more light and air on city sidewalks, and, of course, "an incredibly dynamic, iconic skyline that is the envy of the world."What about the shadows? The planning czar politely reminded the local politicians that long, thin shadows move more quickly than the wide ones that would be cast by squat buildings. After a slew of blazingly hot days in the city, we would add that a few shady patches in sunny Central Park can be a welcome sight indeed.

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